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True, we haven't heard from the likes of Yor the Hunter from the Future for some time.
Ford Thaxton gives us that kind of truculence, but with some "industry expertise".
I could have tolerated them both, yet we will have to make do with the Thaxton magic alone.
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Posted: |
May 9, 2015 - 7:17 PM
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By: |
edwzoomom
(Member)
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Hokey anecdotes, huh? Have I got a Mom/piano/music story for you:
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=13813&forumID=1&archive=1
Howard, that is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever had the privilege of reading. Thank you for sharing it with me. How amazing it was that you dear mom could reconnect with you and her peers through the beauty and power of music. She played it by heart and from the heart.
I would like to share another mom/piano/music story with you. My mom grew up in pretty stark conditions and could never afford piano lessons. She had access to a piano though and learned to play beautifully by heart. When my parents could afford a piano, my mom continued to play but the lessons were given to my older sister. My mom still loved to play the piano, eventually bought a huge Gulbransen organ and played both beautifully - again by heart and by teaching herself to read music.
As we grew, we kids got a bit sick of the organ, especially when she played "Onward Christian Soldiers" at full volume to get us up and out of bed on weekends. Years went by, kids grew and moved on and the sound of the piano and organ music filled the house. One day my mom told us she had decided to finally treat herself to formal piano lessons. She found a wonderful teacher nearby and thrived. We suddenly heard her struggling a bit at the piano, something we had never heard before. Apparently the new teacher was working on breaking some "bad habits' she had developed over the years.
A few years passed, mom persisted and was suddenly playing intricate pieces on the piano. It was amazing to see how far she had come when we had been convinced that she was fantastic already. Eventually my mom located a skilled organ teacher and was playing both the organ and piano with amazing ability. She lived her dream of playing the organ during mass at our local church and was invited to play mass at our local cathedral. She continued with both teachers for quite a few years.
It was about this time that my mom began having the symptoms of the illness that would take her life 5 years later. She eventually had to give up playing the organ because she did not have the strength to play the pedals and two levels of keys. However, she continued to play the piano and even continued with her lessons. As she grew weaker and less able to navigate, my dad would take her to her lessons. The time came for a spring recital that her piano teacher always held. It was obvious that it would be my mom's last public performance. She played a couple of lovely pieces and then played a duet with my sister who had resumed lessons. The sweetest thing of all was when she played a duet of Heart and Soul with her then 8 year grandson. There was not a dry eye in the room and I can still envision them sitting side by side as they played flawlessly. Each family was given a VHS copy of the recital and I still have it to this day. Miraculously when our house burned down years ago, all of our family VHS and VHS C tapes survived, including this one.
Fast forward 10 years after she passed away to my dad's 85th birthday party. The whole family had gathered for the party when my then 5 year old daughter told Grandpa that she had a surprise for him. She gingerly pulled out the bench of the old upright piano we had inherited, took a deep breath and began to play a song on the piano. The whole family sat in stunned silence, including me. I knew she had been fooling around on the piano quite a bit the previous weeks, using a book entitled something like "Learn Piano Playing in 30 Days" or "Piano for Dummies". It was a book I had bought for myself but never used. She did not miss a note and would not stop grinning and bowing when everyone clapped when she finished. My dad was so proud that he insisted that I call my mom's former piano teacher and introduce his granddaughter, the piano prodigy.
I called her a few weeks later and found out she had actually moved a few streets over from me. When I told her who I was and why I called, she started to cry and invited us right over. She greeted us so warmly and told my daughter some stories about the Grandma she never knew. She then asked my daughter to play something on the piano and she was very impressed. She then told us she had since retired but would gladly teach my daughter but not until the age of 7. I was relieved but my daughter was disappointed. She compromised and told my daughter that when she turned 6, I could give her a call and she could begin her lessons. My daughter filled the next 10 months by tinkering on the piano, content with the book she had been using.
When her 6th birthday came, it was one of the first things she mentioned. I promised to make that phone call first thing the next morning. I made the promised phone call. The phone rang and the piano teacher's husband answered the phone. I asked for his wife, there was long pause and a breaking voice told me "I am sorry, but my wife passed away 2 months ago" I was shocked, embarrassed and devastated. When I stupidly began to apologize over and over, her husband told me not to be sorry, that it was sudden and a shock to everyone. After I got off the phone, I was numb. How could she have passed away and I not have known? How stupid I was to call 2 months after this dear man's wife had passed away and ask for her? Finally, what was I going to tell my daughter.
Well, as parents will attest, you get through it. My daughter was heartbroken to say the least. She had developed a hero worship of this woman she had only met once months earlier. She was so thrilled at the idea of taking piano lessons from the "lady who taught my Grandma". We were able to find a wonderful piano teacher in town who had actually been a student of this teacher and had taken lessons at the same time as my mom. My daughter spent 12 years taking lessons from this wonderful woman. Ironically, my daughter cannot play by ear.
Howard, it was music that gave your mom her life back after a debilitating medical situation. It was music and a lovely piano teacher that united a little girl and a grandmother she never knew. How lovely is that?
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